Alojealing-ovekr



W. STENDEH.

ANNEALING OVEN.

APPLICATION FILED APR.I0,I9I8.

Patented Nov. 25, 1919.

2 SHEETS-SHEET i.

Il* lill WITNESSES! PINORNEY W. STENDER.

ANNEALING OVEN.

APPucATxoN FILED APR.10,1918.

Patented Nov'. 25, 1919.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

WITNESSES:

narran srarns rarnnr ernten.

WILLIAM STENDER, 0F MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN.

IANNEALING-OVEN.

To all 'whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM STENDER, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Milwaukee, in the county of Milwaukee and State of Wisconsin, have invented certain new and useful Improvements -in Annealing-Ovens; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

The present invention consists in novel and useful improvements in ovens in which bottles or the like may be annealed, the same being somewhat similar to the type of oven illustrated in United States Patent No. 1,247,890 which was issued to me on November 27, 1917.

In that patent means is illustrated for continuously moving an annealing bed, on which the articles to be treated are disposed, through an oven, the articles, however, being only intermittently projected from the mechanism by which they are fed into the 'oven. The present invention is an improvement on this structure inasmuch as the annealing bed is only intermittently moved through the oven, it being stationary while the bottles or the other articles are moved thereonto from the article receiving member.

This invention also contemplates a very simply constructed, yeteflicient means for synchronously actuating the article receiving member and the annealing bed on which the articles are projected after being received by said member.

An additional object 1s to provide an improved sweep for moving the articles from the article receiving member onto the annealing bed. j

A still further object is to provide means for readily disconnecting the endmost platform of the series 'of platforms forming the annealing bed after the same has been completely passed through the oven.

With such general objects in view the invention consists in certain novel features of construction, combination and arrangement of parts which will be hereinafter more particularly described and claimed and shown in the drawings, in which:I

Figure 1 is a vertical sectional. vView through an annealing oven, said section being taken approximately on the plane of the line l1 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 2 is a detail horizontal section on the plane' of the line 2 2 of Fig. l.

Application filed April 10, 1918.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Nov. 25, 11919.

Serial No. 227,685.

`characters denote like parts throughout the several views, the numeral l indicates the opposite side walls of an annealing oven having a bottom 2, a front wall 3, and a to wall 4, the latter having its front end terminated short of the ends of the side walls and end w-all 3. The space at the front end of the oven which is not protected by the end wall 3 (which is only about one-half the height of the side walls 1) and the top wall 4 is closed byv a horizontal metallic cover plate 5 and a hood 6, the former being stationary and forming a journal plate as will be hereinafter more particularly explained, while the latter is hinged at one side to provide a door whereby access may be had to l the front end of the oven.

Positioned within the oven and extending from the front wall 3 to a point spaced from the rear end and at approximately the level of the top of the former is a horizontal supporting floor 7. This floor has a trio of longltudinally extending parallel channel iron tracks 8 and 9 in which rollers 10 and 11 respectively are adapted to run, said rollers being journally carried by platforms 12 detachably connected together toprovide an annealing bed. From the drawings it will. be noted that the track 9 is disposed centrally of the floor 7 between the outer tracks 8,' and also that the rollers 11 that engage the first mentioned track are journaled in rack bars 13 secured to the platforms 12 (see particularly Fig. 5).

Said rack bars 13 coperate with a pinion 14 secured on the upper end of a vertical shaft. 15, whereby upon rotation of the latter the annealing bed will be shifted longitudinally through the oven. Any preferred means niay be employed for performing the rotation of the shaft 15, but it has been found most desirable to use an electric mo- Vso torM and connect the same thereto by means l an idle pulley wheel 17 mounted on the floor 7 on the opposite side of the track 9 to which the shaft 15 is disposed, said pulley Wheel being annularly grooved for the reception of a rib 18 formed on the rack bar 13.

Bottles or the like B are fed into the oven preferably directly from a molding machine (not shown) through a chute 19. Themner end of the chute terminates adjacent the periphery of an annular article receiving member 2O and also at the end of a statlonary horizontally disposed article supporting plate 21, the same being mounted dlrectly over the annealing bed. This plate is semicircular and conforms to the curvature of the periphery of the article receiving member 20. The latter element has a plurality of pockets formed in its periphery by means of a plurality of spaced peripheral fingers Whose ends are curved laterally in the direction of rotative movement of the member.v It will thus be seen that as such article receiving member is rotated in the proper direction the pockets will be successively brought into position to receive a bottle or other article of the plurality of such articles fed into the oven through the chute 19.

rlhe rat-e of feeding of the bottles through the chute determines the speed with Which the successive pockets are brought into coaction With the end of the chute. ln carrying out such an arrangement l provide the article receiving member 2() With an npright shaft 23 of suiicient length to project upwardly to be journally mounted in the plate 5, a ratchet Wheel 24C secured to the upper end of the shaft Q, and a reciprocative rod 25 which carries a pivoted dog 26 for engagement with the teeth of the ratchet.

Thel rod 25 is 'the continuation of a piston rod .which is movable in a fluid pressure cylinder 27, motive luid being supplied -thereto from any suitable source through pipes 28 and 9,9 and a valve 30 that connects the saine. The valve 30 is positioned adjacent the chute 19 and has an operating arm 3l of sufficient length to project the-reinto so that as each bottle B is moved thereinto it will be engaged thereby. The motive fluid moves 'the rod 25 in one direction only, it being returned byran eXpansile spring 32. "lhus in view of the successive engagement of the arm 31 by the bottles or the like passing through the chute 19, the article receiving member 20 Will -be rotated step yby step in the same direction.

After the member Q0 has been actuated a predetermined number of steps, or in other Words after a predetermined number of articles have been received in the pockets of the member, means is actuated for shifting the articles from their respective pockets and olf the supporting plate 21 onto the annealing bed 1Q. As in-the structure illustrated in the above mentioned patent, a

sweep arm 33 is provided for this movement of the articles. from the article receiving member. In the present invention, however, this arm is in the form of an arcuate bar supported at one end by means of a rod 33 that depends from the plate :3 towvhich it is pivoted by a link 34. The intermediate portion of the arm is in turn pivotally connected with one end of a crank 35 that projects from the lower end of a vertical Shaft 36, the upper end of the latter being also journaled in the plate 5 and preferably projecting therethrough. y The upper end of the shaft 36 Which is extended above the plate 5 has a pinion 37 secured thereto, the teeth of which are meshed with the teeth of a longitudinally movable rack 3S, the latter being carried in a guide 39. A second fluid vCylinder 40 is mounted on the plate 5 adjacent the first mentioned cylinder 27 and has a piston therein, to the rod l1 of which one end of the rack bar 3S is' secured. Motive fluid for this cylinder Ll() is supplied through the pipe 29 and through additional pipes 42 and l3, the last tivo mentioned pipes being connected together through a valve 44.

inasmuch as the sweep arm 32 is only to be operated intermittently, it being at other times in retracted position the motive fluid 95 is only allowed to pass into the cylinder 40 when the article receiving member has been moved a predetermined number of steps. rlherefore in order vthat the movement of the latter may control the movement of the sweep arm, provide a gear Wheel -lfoin engagement by the teeth of the ratchet 2l, said gear wheel having a cam 46 for co-action ivitli an operating arm -l of the valve de. This valve is normally held in closed position by a spring :3.

llfhen motive fluid is the cylinder #nl it is obv. 'that the ck will l l lo itudinally and away from sain cylinder. 'auch movement is taken advantage of 'to control the operation of the motor which d 'es the annee.-` Q bed through the oven. That is to say a switch formed of contacts i9 and 50, which are normally spaced apart, is placed in the A .motor circuit. lVhen the rack bar-38 has reached its limit of movement away from the cylinder lr-0 its end vill strike the movable sivitch Contact 50 and cause it to engage the other contact 49 and complete the motor circuit. Upon the release of the motive fluid in the cylindere() an elpansile spring 51 therein Will retract the piston and therefore the rack bar. rThe switch is thereupon 'again opened and the operation of the motor M stopped.

After the platforms of the annealing bed have been moved completely through the oven by the intermittent operation of the motor M, the end-most platforms are suc- Jerniitted 'to cessively disconnected from the next adjacent ones and removed from the bed. The opposite ends of each platform are respectively provided with one or more vertically extended studs 52 and a corresponding number of eyes 53, it being obvious that the studs of one platform coperate with the eyes of the next adjacent platform. In this manner platforms may be removed from one end of the annealing bed and connected with the other end so that the passage of the same through the oven will be unbroken.

The invention includes means for readily disconnecting the end-most platform after l it has passed through the oven, and in carrying out this object a floor section 54 is pivoted at its outer end as at 55 at the rear end of the floor section and is disposed,

close to-the rear end of the floor 7; furthermore the floor section has tracks 56 which aline with the tracks on the floor 7. Ina-smuchas the ends of the platforms carryingthe eyes 53 are rst inserted vinto the oven through the front end thereoftit will be seen thatas the inner end of the end-most platform, designated in Fig. 1 as 12a, is brought over the rear end of the floor 7, the same may be readily disconnected from the next adjacent platform `12 by de ressing or lowering the inner end of the oor section 54. A retaining arm 57 xed to a horizontal shaft 58 in turn journaled in a standard 59 is used for holding the ioor section in the same horizontal plane as the ioor 7. But, when it is desired to depress the floor section the shaft 58 is rocked by means of a handle lever 60 on the outer side of the oven.

Briefly the operation of the article feeding and conveying mechanism is as follows Bottles or the like B are shoved into the chute in any preferred manner until the inner-most one is positioned in the adjacent pocket of the article receiving member 20. Therefore as each successive bottle is moved into engagement with the operating arm 31 of the valve 30, the latter is opened to permit motive fluid to pass into the cylinder 27, said valve remaining open a suiicient length of time to .allow the article receiving member to be rotated la distance to bring the next pocket into alinement with the inner end of the chute 19. Upon, the closing of the valve 30 and the release of the motive fluid in the cylinder' 27, the spring 32 retracts the rod 25 and the spring pressed pawl 26 so that the latter may take a new grip in the teeth of the ratchet 24. It will be noted that each partial revolution of the ratchet will cause similar movement of the gear wheel 45.

The size of the gear wheel 45 is such that after a predetermined number of pockets of the article receiving member have been filled, the cam 46 will be brought into engagement with the operating arm 43 to open the valve 44. This permitsmotive fluid to actuate the rack bar 38 as hereinbefore explained, such movement causing the projection of the sweep arm and the removal of the articles Vfrom the article receiving memb er onto the annealing bed. Immediately after the sweep arm has become edective and the bottles or the like disposed on the bed, the latter ishmoved a predetermined distance through the oven by the motor M. After the cam 46-no longer engages the operatmg arm 43 the rack bar will be retracted and the movement of the annealing bed stopped. In this manner the successive rows of 'articles deposited on the bed will be relatively close together.

Various minor changes may be made in the form and proportion of various parts of the invention without departing from or sacriiicing any of the advantages thereof, as for 85 instance the parts may be modified to accommodate articles other than those of bottle shape.

I claim 1. In an apparatus of the class described, a bed, an article receiving member, means for delivering articles to the article receiv- 1ng member, and means for ejecting articles from the article receiving member onto the bed including a shaft, a sweep arm secured to one end of the shaft adjacent the article receiving member, a pinionon the shaft, a rack engaged with the pinion, and means for moving the rack when a predetermined number of articles have been delivered to 100 the article receiving member.

2. In an apparatus ofthe classdescribed, a slnftable bed, an article receiving member," means for delivering articles t-o the article receiving member, and means for ejecting the articles from the article receiving member onto the bed including a shaft, a sweep arm secured to one end of the shaft adjacent the article receiving member, a pinion on the shaft, a rack engaged ywith the pinion, means for moving the rack when a predetermined number of articles have been delivered to thearticle receivin member, and means operable by a pre etermined movement of the rack for shifting the bed.

3. In an apparatus of the class described, a bed, an article receiving member, means forv delivering articles to the article receiving member, and means for ejecting the articles from the article receiving member onto the bed including a support, a sweep arm, a' link pivotally connected with one end of the sweep arm and the support, a shaft, a crank extending from the shaft and pivoted to the sweep arm intermediate its ends, and means for rockin the shaft.

4. In an annea ing oven, a main stationary supporting floor, a depressible floor section at one end of the supporting Hoor, a bed movable over the floor vand floor section ary supporting floor, a depressible floor section pivoted at its'outer end, a bed movable over the floor and floor section and comprising a plurality of separable platforms, and means for lowering the inner end of the floor section to readily separate the outermost platform from the next adjacent one..

6. In an annealing oven, a main stationary supporting floor, a depressible ioor secltion at one end of the supporting Hoor, a

land a stud at the other for co-action with the corresponding eyes and studs on the adjacent platforms, and means for lowering the ioor section whenone of the separable platforms is thereover'to readily disconnect the stud thereof from the eye of the neXt adjacent platform.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto's'et my hand at Milwaukee,.

in the county -of Milwaukee, and State of Wisconsin.

WILLIAM 'sTENDER 

